a) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to apparatus for and methods of finishing a leaflet, and optionally a booklet, from plain, partially or wholly pre-printed sheet material, drawn from cut sheets or a reel.
b) Description of the Prior Art
Most commonly, it is necessary for a product manufacturer to impart information about the product to the end user. Sometimes sufficient information can be carried either on the product itself, but more often the information is printed on the packaging for the product or on a label adhered thereto. Where there is a requirement for a greater amount of information, it is the conventional practice to include a pre-printed information leaflet in the product packaging.
In the case of pharmaceutical products, country or market legislation requires the manufacturers to give the end users the specific information concerning the products and it is in general not possible to print all of that information on a cardboard carton containing one or perhaps a few blister strips, a tube of ointment, a small bottle of liquid or similar product. It is therefore the usual practice to fold a printed sheet, normally made from thin paper and carrying the required information, to a size sufficiently small to be inserted into the carton, along with the pharmaceutical product itself, or to be attached to a bottle containing the pharmaceutical product.
Rationalisation is creating specialist pharmaceutical manufacturing centres supplying global markets. The variations required to meet local regulations has increased packaging complexity—for example, the same medication may have to be packed to meet a large number of different national requirements, affecting the information leaflet and carton text content. Regulatory authorities are concerned to ensure an ageing population can both read and understand all patient information. More product data, larger type-faces and more user-friendly layouts increase the required space on a product leaflet. Furthermore, some countries require multi-language content which adds yet further pressure on the size of suitable leaflets, sometimes exceeding current information leaflet production capabilities.
Having regard to the above, there is a demand for leaflets of ever greater usable area but which may be folded down to a relatively small size, for packaging with small products. Further, particularly in the case of pharmaceutical products, it is most important that a leaflet carrying particular information is properly associated with the correct pharmaceutical product and packaging. To this end, it is particularly advantageous if the leaflet can be printed at the time of packaging of a product, so as immediately to be associated with the packaged product. Furthermore, it is also advantageous if the leaflet is in a form which may be adhered to the packaging and then opened out for reading, rather than folded into a shape convenient for insertion into the packaging.
Existing methods available for producing folded information leaflets, often referred to as “outserts”, involve complex set-up procedures which add to the production cost and encourage large order volumes which may not reflect immediate demand. This often creates unnecessary packaging waste and affects the leaflet supplier's ability to offer an optimum logistics service.
A known leaflet production technique is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,136,860 (Shacklett). FIGS. 6 to 9 of Shacklett show a cut sheet of paper pre-printed with the required information repeated on different areas of the sheet. That sheet is then wound around a cylindrical former of circular cross-sectional shape, removed from the former and squeezed into a substantially flat form. The wound sheet is then cut into separate pieces each containing all the required information; thereafter, each wound and squeezed piece may be attached to a carton or bottle. A disadvantage of this process is that the squeezing operation which is performed on the wound sheet causes significant distortion thereof, leading to the formation of unwanted creases. Further, each piece cut from the wound and squeezed sheet must have a significant length (in the direction of the axis of the former) in order to contain the required information in an easily readable form.